The Ballad of Molly Ivins Songwriting Contest !

I have some exciting news about the Ballad of Molly Ivins songwriting contest.

We have now confirmed six fantastic judges for the contest!

Four are singer-songwriters;












Country Joe McDonald









Utah Phillips








Kinky Friedman









Ronnie Gilbert













plus David Richards, Author & Attorney















and Charlotte McCann, Publisher of The Texas Observer!

The Ballad of Molly Ivins songwriting contest is a competition designed to honor the legacy and spirit of Molly Ivins.

See: www.raisehellformollyivins.org/songwritingcontest.html

The contest has been initiated by our “Raise Hell for Molly Ivins” anti-war campaign. In the folk tradition of singer-songwriters memorializing great Americans with ballads, we are putting out a call to write the “Ballad of Molly Ivins”. The winner of this songwriting competition will win a modest prize, and make history by honoring a great American journalist and hell raiser.

The Contest is being officially announced and launched on July 19th. It will be open to amateur and professional songwriters. The contest is using the YouTube.com as a platform to showcase and judge the song entries.

People will post YouTube videos of their song entries and the public will get to see all the entries that the judges will choose from. We are asking for the song entries to be performed with at least one musical instrument and using pots and pans as background percussion.

The judges will be looking for a ballad that is fun, irreverent, uses powerful words and satire to speak truth to power with wit and style. Something Molly would have liked. Something that people can sing on picket lines and at Texas bonfires for the next hundred years.

We need activists, journalists, musicians and media worker to help us get the word out about the contest. We will have a press release ready on July 19th. Anyone who can help us reach songwriters and publications and networks that can reach songwriters is encouraged to contact: balladofmollyivins@gmail.com

The Ballad of Molly Ivins will soon be ready to join the community of songs honoring hell raisers such as the Ballad of Joe Hill and the Ballad of John & Yoko!










-Brian Webster
San Francisco